Sunday, June 18: Man, the heat kicked me in the ass today, plain and simple. I’ve always had a bad track record with really hot weather, which hell, goes all the way back to my first state road race in like 1979-1980, somewhere in there. Think it was a hot, humid summer race of 100+ miles, and I blew a gasket about 60 or 70 miles in, ending up with a dnf. Man, I remember just slinking in on fumes, all lethargic and out of gas, problem even had a slight headache.
Today brought back those memories for the dark ages for sure. So our day started out early, what with the forecast calling for temps to soar into the 108-110 area by early afternoon today. We did a quick much, then loaded the van for our start. Got to yesterday’s end point and we were on the road at 7:30 AM, or earliest start of the trip thus far. I think we were in the mid 70’s by then, so things were pretty comfortable for the start. Now as I said yesterday, most of the riding through this Central Valley area is asphalt. Just barely any LEGAL gravel because of all the agriculture, because this IS one of the agricultural breadbaskets of the USA. There’s orange farms, peach, apple, lime, lemon, veggies, you name it, it’s all growing out here for mile after mile.
Yea, there’s plenty of miles of gravel, but it’s all private property access roads that meander around cropland. So we’re left with asphalt. Now we do do gravel berm out here in the Valley, BUT we absolutely cannot ride on vegetative sections of berm because of all the goatheads. I mean they inhabit this area like nobody’s business. I even stopped, just after curiosity, to see if there were actual fresh “burs” on the plants. Didn’t take but one look at one plant to confirm that suspicion. There was green, burs still on the plants. Usually it’s the old, dried, dead seed pods that cause all the trouble with tires, but the green bur that I picked off seemed just as deadly.
I had warned Dave prior to picking the green bur, so as he rode ahead of me he knew not to ride into specific sections of berm. So we went north on Rt 70 fighting a steadily increasing headwind out of the north, then west out of Gridley on Colusa Hwy. road for a good 15 miles working against a crosswind.. Did a few more jig jags and we were riding south on River Rd, which parallels the Sacramento River, where we had a wonderful tailwind. So about this time I was starting to feel the heat. Matter of fact when we went through Gridley, I saw a Time & Temp sign that read 86 degrees, and then just as I got to it it read 87. I joked to myself that as I passed by the sign it probably changed to 88 degrees.
Anyway had to be high high 90’s by the time I got rolling on River Rd. Met Judy at the River Rd jcn. and told her I’d be slowing down due to the heat, just enough to kind of save some energy. Told her I’d meet her down the road about 5 miles for a hydration stop. Off I went, and much to my surprise there in front of me was this amazing levee on each side of the river, and it sported a nice one-lane gravel road. So I checked this sign on a gate and it indicated that no MOTOR vehicles without permit allowed on the levee. Didn’t say a word about bikes!!!!!
Go on the levee and took that pup of all it was worth. Only issue was my having to stop to hoist my bike over the gate every several miles. Finally had a section where I had to het on the road to bypass a stream, and luckily that’s where I saw Judy, who had been up and down the road looking for me as I was riding on the levee. Sometimes it meandered out away from the road, so I was kind of MIA for a bit. Got more Gatorade, and told her I’d meet her in town, which she said was just a couple miles down the road. Got back on the levee and continued the ride to Colusa. Now the levee kind of died out for a bit, and as my Garmin was readjusting because I was “OFF COURSE” during the levee ride, I made a fatal error - I went straight along the river instead of turning right on this bridge into Colusa. Once my Garmin readjusted I seemed to point my down the road, so I figured there was another bridge, and continued south on the road hugging the river.
By this time I was really feeling the heat. Stomach was feeling upset and my head was starting to feel achy. Kept rolling thinking that bridge was right around the corner, and what really wrangles me is my Garmin seemed to say I was on course - until about 4-5 miles down the road when it began flashing “DO A U-TURN”. That’s when I began to think out loud WTF! Went a bit further and finally I stopped a couple guys in a truck, like I was out in the middle of the bloody road. Asked them which way to Colusa, and be damned if they told me it was back up the road I’d just ridden, 4-5 miles back up the road.
Man, I was just loathing turning the bike around and riding 4-5 miles back up the road into a headwind. Felt like shit from then onward, just doing my best to keep the pedals moving. My thought was that Judy and Dave would be looking all the hell over Colusa for me, when I was off on a totally different road that they may not even get on. Had to ride to that dang bridge into Colusa. Tell you what, you remember certain tough rides in your life, and this was one of them for me. My Gatorade was hot, my mind was beginning to drift in and out of reality, and my legs just felt like pillars.
More than a couple of times I wanted to just stop at the side of the road under a shade tree, but I absolutely had to get back to Colusa some the gang wouldn’t be driving all over hell’s half acre. The miles went by way too slow, but I finally got to the bridge, barely had the gas to get out of the saddle to cross it, then when I did I saw a nice shade tree at the other end. That was THE end of the day for me. Got off the bike and just kind of sat there for 5 minutes. Man I was beat. Decided to just stay put and wait it out for Dave and Judy. Luckily they came by another 5 or 10 minutes later. Dave loaded my bike on the bike rack and gave me a ice cold washcloth for my forehead. Drank about 2 16-ounce ice waters and just sat in the van.
Now I’m sure my sister is like ready to read me the riot act, but honestly, I pulled the plug before I got myself into deep do-do. I know what heat does to me, and now, with the past year’s issues, I’m not going to tempt fate by pushing too far into the hurt locker. Got to respect the limitations. So we loaded up and headed back to Yuba to the motel. Dave finished the segment, while my Garmin tells me I’m 12 miles from the finish. I ended up with 49 miles, but 10 of that is off course.
Got back to the motel, lay down for a bit, and I’m feeling much better. Have to thank Jude and Dave for all their support today. Man, they were just awesome getting me in order. I’m just a bit bummed that for the first time in a very long time in my life, I’m the weak link. I hate it but that’s the way it is.
So this makes tomorrow a bit more challenging, in that we can ride unsupported for the 78-mile track I was looking at….plus the 10 miles that I failed to get in today, which makes the ride about 88 miles of gravel, with 7K of climbing, in 90-100 degree heat. Have to admit that I would consider it under normal circumstances, but with this heat - I just don’t think that I can pull it off. Pisses me off to admit it, but that’s the truth. I’m looking at somehow changing the route, or seeing if we can split this thing up into two rides.
On a totally different subject, I got an email from my friend Guy today, and he got a kick out of my description of the National Hotel we stayed in back in Nevada City. He looked it up on Yelp just for shits and giggles to see what kind of reviews were out there on this place. Now I love writing, and I have to say whoever wrote this review summed it up so succinctly. Here it is: " The whole place is a giant piece of shit wrapped in a thin layer of gold rush era historical charm thats hanging on for its dear life…"
Wow, I WISH I could have said that. Well, until tomorrow….